The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Reviews
Maybe we've simply done everything there is to do with Spider-Man in a video game and all that's left is diminishing returns. And that kills me. It really does. Even in the worst of recent Spidey games there was always that fragment - that little sputtering flame of childlike excitement - that could kick in once you swan-dived off a skyscraper, clad in iconic red and blue. It's gone. Sullied by lacklustre gameplay and trampled by technical shoddiness, this time Spidey hasn't been done in by the Sinister Six, but reduced to a Terrible Two.
Easily Beenox's worst outing with the Spider-Man brand. Nearly every game system is a step backward from the previous three Spidey games—this one isn't worth your time or effort.
Lazy, shoddy and rushed this is a Spider that could do with a good blast of Raid.
As flawed as Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is, its video-game counterpart is even more of a disappointment.
Let me put it to you this way. I actually stopped playing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to do some other work. I'd play a mission, decide I couldn't take any more and go do something else instead, just to get away from it. Quite frankly, that's the opposite of what a game should be.
During the moments when things run smoothly, there's the semblance of a good game, and we'd be lying if we didn't admit to having fun quite often throughout our playthrough, but it's all far too buggy and rushed to recommend with a clear conscience.
This is a dull, drab, uninspired commercial of a game for a wreck of a film; as one of the most iconic pop-culture figures of the past 50+ years, Spidey deserves better.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 does little to dispel the negative reputation that licensed video games have garnered over the years, coming across like a project that was kicked out of the studio doors to coincide with the movie's release. Swinging freely around New York feels liberating, but without engaging combat and missions to back this up, the game feels like little more than another half-baked cash-in.
This Spider-Man entry feels rushed, remains largely unchanged from previous Beenox Spider-Man games and the new web slinging mechanic zapped the fun out of arguably the most enjoyable things about Spider-Man games. I am confident the next entry will be vastly improved but for now you need to move along.
Over the years, Spider-Man has been amazing, sensational, spectacular and superior. This year, he's just plain terrible.
Much like its tie-in's shock ending, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 let us go when we were least expecting it and Beenox failed to swing in to save Spider-Man's love when it mattered the most.
While a lot of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 fails to impress, there is a decent amount of potential to be had in this Beenox product. It is clear that Beenox is a talented developer, but being forced into developing a movie-game that has a predetermined release date is a near impossible situation for anyone. Here's to hoping that brighter futures are in front of Beenox. If not, there will most certainly be a new Amazing Spider-Man heading our way in a few years.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 took what worked in the first game and twisted it into an experience that is far from what its title claims. Even hardcore Spider-Man fans should be wary.
Beenox still hasn't seemed to grasp what everyone wants from a Spider-Man game and I still can't tell if it's because of their rushed development time that's the issue or the developers themselves. Fans of Spider-Man will still likely find some enjoyment here since the web swinging, while still nowhere near as good as past games, is definitely a step up from modern Spider-Man titles.
It really is a shame, because there are moments where it feels like things are or will soon start to click. Spider-Man can perch near the top of a tall building, look over the city and then swing down into the streets to help save the day. No other hero can do that, so it's a unique hook that gives each Spiderman game a unique identity. Peter Parker when not Spiderman has always been one of the more interesting characters in comics because he is often very easy for people to relate to. There is a great catalogue of villains to draw from for boss battles. But in the end, it becomes hard to recommend The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to anyone but the most devout of webhead fans, because it's a game that squanders all that potential.
"The spider-sense is essential, so that you can locate the bystanders trapped in the building"
My biggest disappointment in Spider-Man 2 is not inherently within its flaws or even that it is a licensed game. The problem is that a great game can be seen swimming just beneath the surface of the game that we ultimately got, but a severe lack of polish with the need to rush this out to match the film's release left what could have been a good game buried under mounds of flaws, issues, and sheer drudgery. While there were aspects of this game that really could have been something special or even passable, I would have to say that the overall package of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 isn't really all that amazing.
Most of the time, the game works, and some of it can be amusing if not nourishing. It's just stupid. Very, very stupid.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is stuck so far in the shadow of better superhero games that it's difficult to see anything which makes it stand out from the crowd. While the traversal of the open world remains really enjoyable – in spite of some shortcomings – the rest of the release comes off as an inferior copy. While there's nothing horribly wrong with the experience, there's just not enough here to recommend it, especially when there are more engaging and polished experiences readily available.